title: Environmental group urges stricter PM10 standard

taiwan-subdivisions: 豐原 斗六

content_text:
Members of Air Clean Taiwan release the results of an annual air quality report at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
Environmental group Air Clean Taiwan yesterday urged the government to tighten the standards governing air pollution and called on candidates running in Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections to prioritize the issue as a matter of national security.

At a news conference in Taipei, the group released figures on the average levels of PM10 — an indicator of airborne particles measuring 10 micrometers or less — in cities nationwide last year.

While PM2.5 — particles measuring up to 2.5 micrometers — can enter the lungs, PM10 is more likely to become stuck in nasal cavities and cause nasopharyngeal cancer, group chairman Yeh Guang-perng (葉光芃) said.

The highest average concentration of PM10 last year was 48.35 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) in Tainan, followed by 48.27mcg/m3 in Chiayi County, 46.3mcg/m3 in Yunlin County, 45.8mcg/m3 in Kaohsiung and 45.7mcg/m3 in Pingtung County, he said.

The WHO recommends that the annual average PM10 level should not exceed 20mcg/m3, but Taiwan’s standard is 65mcg/m3, Yeh said, calling on the Environmental Protection Administration to adopt the WHO standard.

Air quality standards should be determined in accordance with each nation’s health risks, pollution situation, pollution control techniques and socioeconomic development level, the agency said in a statement, citing the WHO.

The agency said that it plans to lower the maximum annual average to 50mcg/m3 and the daily limit to 100mcg/m3 to 125mcg/m3, mirroring Japan and South Korea.

Taiwan’s average annual level of PM10 has fallen from 51.3mcg/m3 in 2014 to 35.7mcg/m3 last year, it said.

Eliminating air pollution is a continuous process that is not always effective immediately, the agency said, adding that people should discuss scientifically proven methods for controlling pollution instead of causing panic by citing only some conditions.

In related news, National Chung Hsing University environmental engineering professor Tsuang Ben-jei (莊秉潔) on Monday said that replacing old diesel-powered trucks is the key to further improving the air quality in central Taiwan.

The air quality in central Taiwan from Friday to Sunday last week was poor, but only the monitoring station in Yunlin’s Douliou City (斗六) issued a “red” warning on Saturday, he said.

The pollution in Douliou could have been worse without a reduction in emissions from the coal-fired Taichung Power Plant, Tsuang said, adding that curbing coal use has helped improve the air quality in the region.

However, most monitoring stations in central Taiwan recorded PM2.5 levels greater than 35mcg/m3 on Sunday and Monday, with even the station in Taichung’s Fongyuan District (豐原) that is less affected by the power plant’s emissions reaching 50mcg/m3, demonstrating that air pollution from vehicles is the main factor, he said.

Older trucks emit more nitrogen oxides, which form nitrates in PM2.5, he added, calling on the government to replace the nation’s nearly 80,000 old trucks with newer, cleaner vehicles to reduce pollution.


title: Dozens die in stampede at Iran general’s funeral

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People surround a procession carrying the coffin of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps major general Qasem Soleimani in his hometown of Kerman, Iran, yesterday.Photo: EPA-EFE
A stampede yesterday erupted at a funeral procession for a top Iranian general killed in a US airstrike last week, killing at least 40 people and injuring 213, state TV reported.

The stampede took place in Kerman, the hometown of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) major general Qassem Soleimani, as the procession got under way. Initial videos posted online showed people lying lifeless on a road and others shouting and trying to help them.

State TV provided the casualty toll in its online report, citing Pirhossein Koulivand, head of the Iranian National Emergency Medical Organization.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some have been killed during the funeral processions,” he said.

Authorities later delayed Soleimani’s burial, citing concerns about the massive crowd that had gathered, the semi-official Iranian Student News Agency said.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew more than 1 million people, who crowded main thoroughfares and side streets.

Soleimani’s death has sparked calls across Iran for revenge against the US for a slaying in a drone strike on Friday last week that has drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.

Earlier yesterday before thousands of people gathered in Kerman, IRGC chief commander Major General Hossein Salami said: “We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,” drawing cries of “Death to Israel.”

The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for Soleimani, who was viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the IRGC’s Quds Force.

Salami praised Soleimani’s exploits, describing him as essential to backing Palestinian groups, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.

As a martyr, Soleimani represented an even greater threat to Iran’s enemies, Salami said.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency yesterday reported that Iran has drawn up 13 sets of plans to avenge Soleimani’s killing.

It quoted Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani as saying that even the weakest would be a “historic nightmare” for the US.

“If the US troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,” Shamkhani said.

The US Maritime Administration warned ships across the Middle East, citing rising threats.

“The Iranian response to this action, if any, is unknown, but there remains the possibility of Iranian action against US maritime interests in the region,” it said.

Oil tankers were targeted in mine attacks last year that the US blamed on Iran. Tehran denied being responsible, although it did seize oil tankers near the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil travels.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Consultative Assembly passed an emergency bill declaring the Pentagon and those acting on its behalf in Soleimani’s killing as “terrorists” subject to Iranian sanctions.

The measure appears to be an attempt to mirror a decision by US President Donald Trump in April last year to declare the IRGC a “terrorist organization.”

The US Department of Defense used the designation as justification for the strike that killed Soleimani.

The vote also saw lawmakers approve an additional 200 million euros (US$223.6 million) in funding for the Quds Force.

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The presidential and legislative elections take place on Saturday. Every election is important and the main characteristic of these elections is generational change.

Five years ago, Justin Trudeau, then 43, became prime minister of Canada; in 2017, Emmanuel Macron, then 40, was elected president of France; the same year, Jacinda Ardern, then 37, became prime minister of New Zealand; and last year, Sanna Marin, 34, became prime minister of Finland.

We live in a time of generational change, and the baton is being passed to men and women of the younger generation as they take over to lead people into a new era.

The Taiwanese elections are a clear manifestation of this.

First, from Keelung to Pingtung, there is a difference of almost 25 years in the average age of the candidates of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

This equates to a whole generation and, fittingly, these elections are indeed about generational differences.

The average KMT candidate is 62 years old and the party claims that the experience of its candidates is what makes it the only viable choice.

However, what kind of experience do they have?

By comparison, some of the distinguishing features of the DPP’s candidates are that they have no complicated vested business interests in their baggage, and they have gone to the best schools at home and abroad, graduating from Yale, Harvard and National Taiwan University.

If the DPP’s candidates, whose average age is 38, are elected, their uncomplicated background, capability and energy would allow them to build a new vision for the next 20 years.

Surely all the education and training they received were undertaken with the intent that they should be the nation’s leaders.

Given the wisdom of voters, why should they not make the best of this opportunity for these candidates and themselves?

Another cross-generational characteristic that is closely related to Taiwan is the generational change in China: The 1990s was the decade when China went from poverty to development, and the 2020s are set to be the decade when it slips from development into decline.

Economically, the US’ trade and technology sanctions and the outflow of foreign businesses are likely to result in economic decline in China, just as Japan slipped into decline in the 1990s.

Socially, the turmoil in Hong Kong, China’s inability to respond to Hong Kongers’ demands for direct elections and the reliance on police violence against young protesters would also lead to domestic economic decline and increased unemployment.

The inability to respond to social demands would lead to suppression of the public by the paramilitary Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, and Hong Kong would become the fuse that sets Chinese cities on the path from stability to upheaval.

Tragically, in the face of these generational changes, the older generation in the People First Party (PFP) and the KMT have made it clear that they have no vision for the future

They have slid from opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through fear to friendliness and then sycophancy, making the CPP’s views their own.

As people around the world condemn the CCP and Hong Kong police for their violence and cruelty against young protesters, candidates on the KMT’s legislator-at-large list have expressed their support for Hong Kong’s police force.

title: Voters have chance to shape future


title: EDITORIAL: Some lines should not be crossed

people: 韓國瑜 鍾小平 蔡英文

content_text:
The Black Hawk crash on Thursday last week that killed eight military officers, including the chief of the general staff, was a national tragedy that should not be made light of in any way.

Initially, it looked like that would prove to be the case.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and all the legislative candidates acted appropriately by suspending their campaign activities.

The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley on Friday last week extended his condolences, while the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) flew the US national flag at half-mast at its compound in Taipei for a day and pledged to offer any assistance to Taiwan.

Then the inappropriate comments started.

It is utterly shameless to use such a tragic event involving officers who have sworn to protect this nation — or any death at all — to further one’s political agenda, but as the presidential campaign has shown, people seem to have trouble keeping their mouths shut.

While many politicians offered their sympathy on Thursday last week, New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) took the opportunity to attack Tsai by inexplicably linking the accident to allegations of “green terror” and urged Taiwan to lay down its arms.

Wang’s pro-China political stance has long been clear and he has accused the government of waging a “green terror” campaign many times — but taking advantage of such tragic deaths is just wrong.

The Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported that independent Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平), a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, on Friday last week said that the AIT’s flag gesture showed that it supported Tsai in the presidential election and constituted an attack on the KMT that would doom it for eternity.

Chung also insinuated on the same political talk show that the AIT’s gesture was part of the US’ strategy against China.

However, while the US and its officials were respectful, how did China, which calls Taiwanese its compatriots and family, react to the tragedy?

The state-run Global Times criticized Taiwan’s military capabilities and claimed: “Once China decides to liberate Taiwan by force, can these Black Hawks serve as a barrier?”

Those comments sparked an Internet furor and fueled more public anger against Beijing, but they were just the latest example of China shooting itself in the foot when it comes to Taiwan.

If Beijing wants to influence the elections in its favor, this is totally the wrong way to do it.

Then Han also crossed the line.

The KMT presidential candidate, who has been engaging in all kinds of outlandish statements and behavior of late, on Sunday brought up the accident during a campaign event, apparently just to add it to his list of Taiwan’s recent misfortunes.

He later said that his comment “Is Taiwan possessed?” was taken out of context, but he was clearly trying to use the tragedy to rally his supporters.

The Ministry of National Defense on Sunday afternoon issued a statement asking all parties to please respect the ministry and refrain from taking advantage of it for electioneering purposes.

Mudslinging and negative campaigning are quite common before elections in Taiwan, national and local, and the ugliness so far has not been surprising.

However, there are lines that should not be crossed.

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November CPI rose 1.13% on food prices: DGBAS

BENIGN:‘There is no need to worry about inflation, as overall consumer prices have advanced at a very mild pace,’ Senior Executive Officer Chiou Shwu-chwen said
The consumer price index (CPI) last month rose 1.13 percent from a year earlier as a correction in transportation costs was not enough to offset rising food, education and healthcare costs, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

It was the highest reading for the inflation gauge in 14 months, but was benign enough that the central bank should feel comfortable keeping interest rates unchanged, the statistics agency’s monthly report said.

The CPI reading after seasonal adjustments increased 0.25 percent, the agency said.

“There is no need to worry about inflation, as overall consumer prices have advanced at a very mild pace,” Senior Executive DGBAS Officer Chiou Shwu-chwen (邱淑純) told a media briefing in Taipei.

The CPI rose only 0.56 percent during the whole of last year, the smallest gain over the past four years, Chiou said.

Last month, food costs — which make up 25 percent of the gauge’s total weighting — rose 2.97 percent, driven mainly by fruit and vegetable prices, the report said.

Vegetable prices increased 21.97 percent and fruit prices rose 13.01 percent, more than erasing a 14.11 percent decline in egg prices, it said.

Green onion prices more than doubled and cabbage prices soared 74 percent, Chiou said, adding that the increases, which should be mitigated this month, could be attributed to a low comparison base last year.

Education and recreation costs increased 1.12 percent, while medical and healthcare costs rose 1.01 percent, amid rate adjustments by travel agencies and hospitals, the report said.

Prices for miscellaneous items gained 0.86 percent due to an increase in gold and jewelry prices, it added.

Transportation and communications costs fell 0.31 percent after international crude prices rebounded 4.33 percent, but prices of domestic telecommunications services fell 6.82 percent from a year earlier, the report said.

Core CPI — a more reliable monitor of consumer price movements, as it excludes volatile items — added 0.57 percent, a sign that consumer prices are stable, it said.

The wholesale price index (WPI) — a measure of production costs — weakened 3.42 percent, easing from a revised 4.98 percent decline in November, the agency said.

While prices of raw materials continued to soften, the pace of corrections tapered off, it added.

For the whole of last year, the WPI dropped 2.24 percent, reversing a 3.63 percent increase seen in 2018, as uncertainty weighed on demand, the agency said.


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Hon Hai tumble ends nine months of revenue growth

RECORD YEAR:Despite a decline in sales last month on both a monthly and annual basis, the company saw consolidated sales reach a new high of NT$5.34 trillion
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the largest assembler of Apple Inc iPhones, on Monday said that revenue last month declined 12.89 percent annually to NT$539.51 billion (US$17.93 billion), ending nine consecutive months of annual growth.

While market analysts attributed the decline mostly to a high comparison base last year, the figure also represented a 10.48 percent decrease from November’s revenue of NT$602.65 billion.

The monthly contraction was the result of advance orders from clients seeking to avoid additional US tariffs on China-made products that were scheduled to take effect in the middle of last month, analysts said.

Hon Hai said that sales were mainly driven by its corporate products segment, followed by electronic components, and communication and consumer electronics businesses.

Overall revenue last year reached a new high of NT$5.34 trillion, inching up 0.82 percent from NT$5.29 trillion in 2018, beating its forecast.

Amid rumors that Apple would release its second-generation budget iPhone, dubbed the iPhone SE2, in the first half of this year, market hopes are high as analysts expect a strong performance from Hon Hai this quarter.

Meanwhile, Hon Hai has canceled its plan to build an manufacturing plant for mobile phones and related components in India, two English-language newspapers — the Hindu and the Times of India — reported yesterday.

Hon Hai, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, broke its commitment to invest about US$5 billion in Maharashtra state, the papers said, citing Maharashtra Minister for Industries and Mining Subhash Desai.

The investment was previewed by a memorandum of understanding signed between Hon Hai and the state government in 2015, the reports said.

“The investment commitment made by Foxconn is not coming through. It will not happen in the future as well. While they had taken up land near Navi Mumbai to set up initial facilities, it seems like multiple factors have led to their exit from Maharashtra,” Desai was quoted as saying.

Desai cited underlying factors such as prevailing global economic conditions, better performance by Foxconn’s competitors and internal disagreements with Apple, which have ensured that the company could not get a head start, the newspapers said.

Hon Hai owns a plant in Tamil Nadu, near Chennai, where it assembles Apple’s iPhone XR, and has another plant in Sri City, where it makes mobile phones for China’s Xiaomi Corp (小米).

However, Hon Hai yesterday denied having a dispute with its US client, adding that its investment in India is going smoothly.


title: Walsin Q4 revenue fell 4.8% due to fewer work days

content_text:
Passive component maker Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) yesterday posted the weakest fourth-quarter revenue report in about two years after revenue last month dropped 4.8 percent month-on-month due to fewer working days.

However, customer demand last month was strong thanks to companies preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday and restocking inventory, the company’s Web site said.

The firm’s revenue last month fell 29 percent year-on-year to NT$2.15 billion (US$71.47 million) from NT$2.26 billion in November.

Fourth-quarter revenue fell 9.83 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$6.51 billion from NT$7.22 billion in the third quarter and declined about 80 percent year-on-year from NT$11.68 billion in 2018.

For the whole of last year, revenue reached NT$29.94 billion, slumping 37.4 percent from NT$47.83 billion in 2018, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.

In November, the company told investors that demand would likely recover when supply-chain inventory fell to a healthy level at the end of the year.

Demand from companies rebuilding inventory and 5G base stations needing new dielectric filters were expected to fuel growth momentum this year, the company said at the time.

Supply-chain feedback indicates that Walsin has tried to increase its factory utilization rate to satisfy a spike in customer demand for multilayer ceramic capacitors and chip resisters.

However, a labor shortage has prevented the company from fully utilizing its manufacturing capacity, a Walsin supplier said.

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title: Unearthing just a little inspiration in tragedy

content_text:
On Thursday last week Taiwan suffered a tragedy: Eight military officers, including Chief of the General Staff General Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴), were killed in a helicopter crash.

It was a human tragedy and a military setback, of course, but it was also a significant blow to Taiwan’s diplomacy, as Shen played a central role in the nation’s all-important relationship with Washington.

The catastrophe has no silver lining. I can only hope that the sacrifices of those who died and of the five injured survivors can inspire Taiwanese to reflect for a moment on how important the armed forces are in preserving everything they hold dear.

The accident reminds us that military service is never without risk. Even a general whose job mostly involves commuting to an office in downtown Taipei must be ready to climb into a helicopter in bad weather to review troops at a distant base.

When a young person chooses a military career, he or she is also choosing that risk, not out of a desire for personal gain, but out of an understanding that it is the cost of serving.

The accident also reminds us that preparing for war is uncomfortable and challenging, physically and psychologically. It requires practicing for war, and learning to use the tools and weapons of war.

Those tools and weapons are dangerous; soldiers must feel their power if they are to be ready to fight. Accidents are inevitable when the mission is driven by the necessity to succeed rather than an imperative to make sure nothing goes wrong.

Meanwhile, let us not forget the psychological toll of spending every day preparing for an event most of us dare not even imagine.

The tragedy also reminds us that the military’s mission goes beyond preparing for war. Military cooperation is a critical component of international partnerships and Taiwan’s military personnel play a central role in maintaining substantive relationships with other states, especially the US.

Shen made enormous contributions in this regard, even as he stayed out of the limelight.

He advanced Taiwan’s security as a military commander and as a key diplomatic player, asking nothing for himself.

Professional military service is not for everyone. It is a way of life that requires unusual attributes and demands extraordinary sacrifices, but to say that it is not for everyone is not to say it is not for anyone.

There are men and women who thrive in the military, and Taiwanese should recognize and honor their choice to serve.

Military service is unique. It combines physical and mental challenges. It offers opportunities to learn, and practice teamwork and leadership. It requires discipline and initiative, and while it also provides opportunities for recognition and reward, it is always in service to something greater than oneself.

Taiwanese should not follow the example of the US, where an uncritical, superficial adulation of the military has replaced genuine understanding and sincere respect for military service. Truly supporting the troops means respecting a young person’s determination to serve, even when we find it hard to understand or we fear for their safety.

My wishes for Taiwanese in the wake of this tragedy are these: First, I hope you will recognize those killed and injured as the heroes they truly were. They risked — and eight of them gave — their lives for you.


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A new fund management service proposed by Jko Asset Management Co (街口投信), a unit of Jkos Network Co (街口金融科技) and its business partners, could not guarantee customers a fixed return, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.

Jkos Network’s electronic payment service, Jkos Pay (街口支付), earlier this month posted advertisements that said consumers would earn returns of at least 1.5 percent if they purchased funds managed by Jko Asset Management by using Jkos Pay.

“We will not allow such promotional activity, as no fund management service can promise a return to their clients according to the Regulations Governing Securities Investment Trust Enterprises [證券投資信託事業管理規則],” Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director Sam Chang (張振山) told a news conference in New Taipei City.

Although the investment firm told the bureau that another firm had posted the ads, the bureau would scrutinize the service when it is launched, Chang said.

The commission last month eased regulations to enable consumers to purchase New Taiwan dollar-denominated funds by using electronic payment tools, but a securities investment trust and consulting unit must amend its deed and gain the FSC’s approval before launching such a service, and Jko Asset Management had failed to do so, Chang said.

Jko Asset Management told the Taipei Times that it would delay the launch, scheduled for Monday next week, and would release more details today.

In a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, it said chairman Kao Wu-chung (高武忠) had been dismissed and that Jkos Network chairman Kevin Hu (胡亦嘉) would serve as acting chairman of the asset management company.

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title: Advertisements land Jko Asset in hot water with FSC


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In the 1980s, Latin America endured a debt crisis so severe that the entire decade was “lost” to poor economic performance.

Since then, other economies — most notably Japan — have endured their own “lost decades,” but today it is again Latin America that is facing difficulties. In fact, it has already lost five years.

Latin America has suffered a half-decade of anemic growth for the second time since the 1980s, and its lowest-performing five years since World War II.

In the region’s previous lost half-decade, after the 1997 East Asian crisis, annual GDP growth averaged 1.2 percent.

Between 1980 and 1985 — the worst five years of the debt crisis — average growth amounted to 0.7 percent. Over the past five years, it reached a mere 0.4 percent.

This is partly the result of an unfavorable global environment, reflected in Latin America’s deteriorating terms of trade since 2014, the virtual stagnation of overall international trade and two years of renewed financial turbulence in emerging economies.

However, other developing regions have faced the same external headwinds, but every one of them has outperformed Latin America, not only in the past five years, but since 1990 — a period during which annual GDP growth in the region averaged just 2.7 percent.

Clearly, long-term domestic and regional factors are also contributing to Latin America’s underperformance. They have economic origins, but also reflect political crises and complex political transitions in several nations.

Nowhere are these political challenges more apparent than in Venezuela, which, despite having the world’s largest proven oil reserves, is in economic free fall.

Since 2014, Venezuela’s GDP has contracted by more than 60 percent — one of the sharpest economic contractions in history for a nation not at war.

International sanctions have exacerbated Venezuela’s economic travails, but the problems began long ago, and have been fueled by sharp political polarization and the catastrophic economic policies of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Excluding Venezuela, Latin America’s average GDP growth rises, but only to 1 percent per year — still worse than the region’s last lost half-decade. This partly reflects the region’s largest economy, Brazil, experiencing its deepest recession since World War II in 2015 and 2016.

In the second-largest economy, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged, upon taking office in December 2018, to achieve 4 percent annual GDP growth. Instead, the economy has stagnated, and even slipped into recession in the first half of last year. Argentina has struggled with domestic macroeconomic imbalances, in addition to global financial turbulence and concerns about the return of a Peronist government. Political turmoil in Ecuador, and in Bolivia and Chile, has also undermined economic performance.

However, Latin America’s economic problems began long before the latest wave of economic and political instability.

Latin America achieved faster growth — a 5.5 percent average annual rate — in the 30 years that preceded the lost decade of the 1980s, when state-led industrialization was the order of the day, than in the 30 years that followed it.

The economic orthodoxy that took hold three decades ago derided the state-led approach and urged Latin American nations to undertake market reforms that, so far, have failed to fulfill their promise.

title: Latin America must not ‘lose’ five more years


content_text:
2020 Elections: Simon Chang gives his opinion on the ‘1992 consensus’

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Simon Chang in an interview with ‘Liberty Times’ (sister newspaper of the ‘Taipei Times’) reporters Lin Liang-sheng and Chiu Yen-ling said that the ‘1992 consensus’ does not touch on possible cross-strait unification, but Beijing and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have given the term negative connotations
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Simon Chang gestures during an interview in Taipei on Monday.Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Liberty Times (LT): Although you have helped draft many of KMT presidential candidate Han Kuo-Yu’s (韓國瑜) policy plans, as his vice president you would not be granted actual power under the Constitution if you win the election. How can you promise that the KMT administration will follow through with your ideas?

Simon Chang (張善政): There is not much I can do about the KMT, but Han is a party member; he has more than once spoken about the need to reform the KMT, especially the need to bring in the younger generations, and I believe in him.

When I agreed to be his running mate, Han promised to implement my policy plans. He also told me that if he is elected president, he would return to Kaohsiung to serve as mayor until May 20 and that during that period [leading up the swearing-in ceremony], we would discuss how to build a government team. I believe he meant what he said. Our team will inevitably include non-KMT members.

If the KMT wins the presidential election, I hope Han can reform the party and bring in more young people, and I look forward to seeing a method to coordinate the administration and the KMT.

LT: How would you interact with the KMT if party reforms do not lead to satisfactory results?

Chang: I would not interfere with the KMT’s internal reforms. I only care about whether the party would better assist us in running the nation after reforms. Hopefully, as an independent vice president, I would be able to help coordinate things and act as a buffer to ensure harmony in the government.

At the moment I have no plans to join the KMT. I hope to maintain objectivity by remaining an independent. It would also give me more credibility [as a politician].

LT: You have previously recommended that the KMT abandon the “1992 consensus” and adopt “one China according to the Constitution, while prioritizing Taiwan” (憲法一中，台灣優先) as its new model for cross-strait interactions. Have you changed your mind?

Chang: That was my stance when I launched my own presidential bid. To some extent, Han’s cross-strait policy also implies “one China according to the Constitution, while prioritizing Taiwan.”

As it is no longer enough to simply say the “1992 consensus,” we now say the “1992 consensus, with each side having its own interpretation of what one China means,” but we are concerned that the other side of the Taiwan Strait will not accept that, and that is why I originally proposed “one China according to the Constitution, while prioritizing Taiwan.”

When we were discussing the matter with former National Security Bureau director-general Tsai De-sheng (蔡得勝), he said the mainland had not rejected the idea of “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means” in its internal documents, but it was rarely mentioned due to concerns that it could be interpreted as supporting the independence of the Republic of China. So I suggested saying both the “1992 consensus” and “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means” in one sentence.

Simply saying the “1992 consensus” without mentioning “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what that means” would be risky.

I am glad that the other side of the Strait responded with goodwill and allowed some flexibility, but if something happens, we would go back to “one China according to the Constitution, while prioritizing Taiwan.”


title: Flight recorders from helicopter to be sent to US

content_text:
Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa bows yesterday when attending a memorial service held at the Taipei Guest House for late chief of the general staff general Shen Yi-ming and seven other military officials who died in a helicopter crash last week.Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The air force yesterday said it would send two flight data recorders retrieved from the wreckage of a military helicopter to the US for analysis to help determine why the aircraft crashed.

The UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter carrying military personnel to Dongaoling Base (東澳嶺) in Yilan County went down in the mountains of New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) on Thursday with 13 people on board. Eight died in the crash, including Chief of the General Staff General Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴).

The data recorders need to be sent to Sikorsky Aircraft, the helicopter’s US-based manufacturer, for a comprehensive analysis, the air force said.

An air force official on Sunday said that the military was not planning to send the data recorders to the US unless it encountered difficulties in retrieving the data.

However, the air force yesterday said that there are certain blocks of data that only the manufacturer can decipher.

The two recorders — one flight data recorder and one cockpit voice recorder — were recovered on Friday morning and sent to the Transportation Safety Board for an initial analysis.

The board, an independent government agency responsible for major transportation accidents, completed its analysis of the data contained in the recorders on Saturday and informed the air force of its findings.

The air force did not specify when it would hand over the recorders to Sikorsky, saying only that it has asked for help from the American Institute in Taiwan to coordinate communications with the company.

The information contained in the data recorders is only part of the evidence being gathered by investigators to determine the cause of the accident, the air force said.

The authorities also have to take weather conditions and maintenance records, among other factors, into account, before coming up with a full report explaining the cause of the crash, it said.

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title: December exports up for second month

content_text:
December exports up for second month

ELECTRONIC ASSISTANCE:The sector increased 11.9 percent from the same period in 2018, due to demand from China, the US and Japan, the Ministry of Finance said
Exports last month rose for a second straight month, increasing 4 percent from a year earlier to US$29.5 billion, as electronics shipments rose ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, while declines in non-tech products tapered off, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

Following November last year’s 3.3 percent year-on-year increase, the latest data suggest a recovery for technology products as the US and China move to solve their trade dispute, the ministry said.

“The pickup is evident for electronics, the mainstay of Taiwanese exports, which saw an 11.9 percent increase from a year earlier,” thanks to active inventory demand from China, the US and Japan, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing in Taipei.

Semiconductor shipments grew 14.2 percent to US$9.4 billion on the back of 5G deployments by Chinese technology brands, Tsai said.

China’s Xiaomi Corp (小米), Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) and Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃) are to roll out 5G smartphones powered by chips designed by MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).

Robust demand for information and communication devices also pushed shipments for the product category to a record high of US$4.07 billion, as the benefits of order transfers and trade rerouting were sustained and would extend into this year, Tsai said.

Meanwhile, a protracted retreat in non-tech product exports has subsided, although it is premature to speculate on a turnaround, she said.

Exports of base metals, plastic and mineral products posted a single-digit decline as local steelmakers spotted signs of improvement for selling prices, while others looked at an extended soft patch, Tsai said.

Imports also sent a positive message, with a 13.9 percent increase from a year earlier to US$26.99 billion, the ministry’s report showed.

Extensive imports of capital equipment, especially by semiconductor firms, underpinned the solid bounce, it said.

“Strong imports are encouraging, as they usually arise from needs for capacity expansion and technology upgrades,” Tsai said.

Last month’s figures gave Taiwan a trade surplus of US$2.5 billion, a 46.4 percent decline from a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter, exports returned to the positive zone with a 1.9 percent increase year-on-year to US$87.06 billion, while imports grew 4.9 percent to US$76.34 billion, the ministry said.

It credited the uptick to strong shipments of tech gadgets boosted by peak season effects.

For the whole of last year, outbound shipments dropped 1.4 percent to US$329.34 billion, while imports squeezed a 0.4 percent gain to US$285.86 billion, it said.

All data ended slightly better than expectations by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

However, fewer working days this month — due to the extended Lunar New Year holiday — could drive exports back to negative territory, with a decline of between 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent, although there is no need to worry about isolated holiday disruptions, Tsai said.

Additional reporting by CNA


title: No Chinese quota hike for trade deal

content_text:
Frozen corn is pictured on a farm near East Grand Forks, Minnesota, on Nov. 22 last year.Photo: Reuters
China will not increase its annual low-tariff import quotas for corn, wheat and rice to accommodate stepped-up purchases of farm goods from the US, local media group Caixin quoted Chinese Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun (韓俊) as saying yesterday.

The report underlines China’s desire to protect its domestic producers and raises further questions about how it will meet a target of spending billions of dollars more on US agricultural goods as the two countries look to calm an extended trade dispute.

US President Donald Trump last month said that China had agreed to double its pre-trade dispute purchases of US agricultural products over the next two years as part of a Phase 1 trade deal to be signed this month.

Han, part of the negotiating team, last month said that China would buy more US wheat, rice and corn to meet demands for higher imports.

His comments led to speculation that Beijing could increase the quotas that it issues each year to grain buyers, setting the amount of wheat, corn and rice that can be imported at a tariff rate of 1 percent.

The amounts for this year were issued in September last year and were steady in previous years. Imports outside the quotas are rare because of tariffs of 65 percent.

Han was quoted by Caixin yesterday as saying the quota is offered to global markets and “we won’t adjust it for one country.”

“This is soothing market nerves here,” said Meng Jinhui (孟金輝), a corn analyst with Shengda Futures Co Ltd (盛達期貨).

“I think the market is worried about a blow from the possible increase of grain imports, and that [message] has gone to the high leadership,” Meng added.

Increasing sales of meat, ethanol, distillers grains and soybeans are likely to be more important for reaching the US target for doubling farm exports to China, Meng said.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month said Beijing had committed to buy an additional US$32 billion of US agricultural products over two years, or about US$16 billion a year more than the 2017 baseline of US$24 billion.

China’s annual quotas are 9.64 million tonnes for wheat, 7.2 million tonnes for corn and 5.32 million tonnes for rice, but large portions go unused each year as China relies on domestic production.

“This is about national food security, so it won’t be opened up,” said a Chinese wheat trader, who declined to be identified as he is not allowed to talk to media.

The quota system has been heavily criticized by the US, which last year won a WTO ruling that China violated its obligation to administer the quota on a fair basis.

China has not bought large volumes of US wheat, corn and rice in recent years.

“Although there are certain types of high-quality wheat that China would look to import, maxing out the tariff rate quota would also weigh on domestic producers,” INTL FCStone Financial Inc senior Asia analyst Darin Friedrichs said in a note late on Monday.

“China will be facing a tough balancing act of trying to satisfy the US demands for large agriculture purchases, while also not hurting the rural population,” he said.

The agriculture ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


content_text:
2020 Elections: Han a danger to diplomacy, DPP says

POWER OF WORDS:DPP legislators said Taiwan needs a competent president, as opposed to Han, who has offended many people by saying ‘outrageous’ things
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling, center, and colleagues hold a news conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday to criticize Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu ‘s diplomatic policy.Photo courtesy of Kuan Bi-ling
Listing the disparaging and insulting comments Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has made about other countries, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate would be a disaster for international diplomacy if elected.

While campaigning, Han has made outlandish and derogatory remarks, which have offended people from other nations, DPP legislative caucus director-general Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a news conference.

“If a person such as Han was representing our nation, how would the world perceive Taiwan?” she asked.

After compiling Han’s public comments on foreigners and international affairs, “we found he has insulted Southeast Asians and many others, offending 95 countries in total,” she said.

Among the examples Kuan cited were remarks by Han on Aug. 29 last year.

Talking about Taiwan’s young people and migrant workers, Han said: “All the phoenixes have flown away, while a bunch of chickens are moving in.”

The remark was widely criticized for comparing migrant workers to chickens.

Han on March 6 said he worried that hiring educated employees from the Philippines “would cause a psychological shock for Taiwanese, because [they might wonder]: How has our ‘Maria’ become a teacher?”

The term “Maria” is a slur widely used in Taiwan to refer to migrant workers, especially those working as a caregivers.

At a KMT banquet on Sept. 15, Han spoke of a friend selling orchids in Africa, and said he asked him: “Are you sure that black people in Africa would need orchids in their homes?”

Han insulted all 57 African countries with the discriminatory remark, Kuan said.

When meeting Japanese academics on Sept. 6, Han told the media that he had waited for them for 25 minutes, but it was Han’s office that changed the time and venue, and did not properly pass on the message, which caused the Japanese group’s late arrival, Kuan said.

DPP legislator-at-large candidate Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said that during Han’s visit to Hong Kong on March 22, he was quoted as saying: “There is a happy country, Bhutan — I think it is in the Alps. The people there are simple and rather dumb, as long as they have bread to eat, they believe they are the world’s happiest people.”

During the televised presidential debate on Dec. 29, Han said that the EU had approved categorizing nuclear energy as green energy, Hung said, adding that Han’s remark was false, had distorted EU policies and would offended European countries.

The Constitution grants the president the important duties of taking charge of international affairs, national defense and cross-strait relations, Kuan said.

“Voters must choose a competent person with good leadership and management skills for our president,” she said. “Han has been talking nonsense and saying outrageous things, and continues to offend people from other countries.”

In response, Han’s campaign office spokeswoman Anne Wang (王淺秋) said that the DPP’s news conference had “little substance.”

Additional reporting by Ann Maxon

people: 韓國瑜 洪申翰 管碧玲


content_text:
Transportation ministry evaluating suggestion to revoke FAT’s certificate

Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung tells reporters in Taipei yesterday that the ministry is reviewing the termination of Far Eastern Air Transport Corp’s civil aviation flight permit after receiving a report from the Civil Aeronautics Administration.Photo: Hsiao Yu-hsin, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is evaluating the Civil Aeronautics Administration’s (CAA) suggestion that it revoke Far Eastern Air Transportation’s (FAT) air operator certificate, after the airline on Dec. 13 abruptly announced that it would cease operations, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.

“We have received a recommendation from the CAA, which says that FAT’s air operator certificate should be revoked per the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法). The ministry’s Department of Aviation and Navigation, and Legal Department have asked the civil aviation authority to offer a more complete report as grounds for certificate revocation,” Lin said.

While the airline has said that it has found investors to fund its operations and is seeking to resume flight services, the CAA has yet to allow the airline to do so.

FAT on Monday announced that it would have to delay paying employees’ salaries after Taiwan Cooperative Bank seized its operational funds, adding that a Hong Kong firm is interested in investing in the airline.

However, financial problems are only part of the airline’s troubles, Lin said.

FAT has contravened the act by ceasing operations without any advance notice, which could cost the airline its air operator certificate, he said.

Although the airline has spoken many times about potential investors, Lin said this should be treated as a separate matter.

“FAT should honestly face its financial situation, as it has trouble even paying its employees. Its top priority should be to take care of its employees,” Lin said.

The ministry is not experiencing any pressure to settle the matter quickly, he added.

Aviation safety is the ministry’s guiding principle in deciding whether the airline should be permitted to resume flight services, he said.

“The airline has claimed that [some of] its employees had misjudged the situation and erroneously made the announcement to cease operations. Its response confirmed the CAA’s worst fears. Before we can revoke [FAT’s] license, we not only have to consider that it has contravened the law, but also need to ensure that we strictly follow legal procedures in revoking its certificate, in case it challenges us in court,” he said.

Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said that even if the ministry does not revoke FAT’s license, the airline would have to complete several procedures before it can resume flight services.

Revoking FAT’s air operator certificate is a serious matter, and the ministry wants to ensure that it is backed by solid legal arguments if it decides to do so, Wang said, adding that the CAA has been asked to ascertain the rules of the act that the airline might have contravened.

Although the airline offered flights to Japan, South Korea and China, a majority of its flights were domestic, particularly to the outlying Kinmen and Penghu counties, Wang said, adding that the airline controls about one-third of the market share.

The ministry has plans to transport people to the outlying islands for Saturday’s elections and for the Lunar New Year holiday in case it revokes FAT’s certificate, Wang said.

The two other domestic carriers — Uni Air and Mandarin Airlines — can offer additional flights or use larger aircraft to transport the additional passengers, he said.


people: 羅美玲 吳敦義 范雲 韓國瑜 蔡英文

content_text:
2020 Elections: DPP women tout party’s strides in gender equality

INCLUSIVITY:Lo Mei-ling, who was born in Malaysia, said many immigrants feel that the DPP has addressed their needs, allowing them to better contribute to the nation
Six of the Democratic Progressive Party’s female legislator-at-large candidates pose for a photograph at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Women from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday urged people to vote for the party in Saturday’s elections, saying that it had advanced gender equality, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was becoming more conservative.

The DPP has pushed for gender equality and the empowerment of women, DPP legislator-at-large candidate Fan Yun (范雲) told a news conference at DPP headquarters in Taipei.

She and a group of female DPP legislative candidates presented videos and listed the accomplishments and gender equality policies promoted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is seeking re-election as the party’s presidential candidate.

“In the past, at least KMT officials knew they were behind and tried to move forward on women’s issues, but we see now that the KMT is falling further behind, and going backward in a more conservative direction,” Fan said.

Fan said Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s presidential candidate; former premier Simon Chang (張善政), its vice presidential candidate; and KMT chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) had all made sexist comments.

“So we call on voters to hand the KMT a heavy defeat, so that it can reflect and learn a lesson,” she said.

Fan also praised the Tsai administration for legalizing same-sex marriage.

DPP Nantou County Councilor and legislator-at-large candidate Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲) also spoke at the event, saying that she was born in Malaysia and had become a Taiwanese citizen through marriage.

“The DPP is the party working to improve the situation for women and new immigrants,” she said, adding that it is promoting a multicultural society in Taiwan, where people from Southeast Asia and other countries can be accepted.

She said many new immigrants and women from other countries working in Taiwan feel that the DPP has addressed their concerns and needs.

It has improved government programs so that they could make a living and contribute to society, she added.


title: CDC issues travel warning for Wuhan

content_text:
CDC issues travel warning for Wuhan

CROSS-STRAIT COOPERATION:The agency has asked China to allow it to send a group to observe patients, treatment methods and the environment in the city
Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Liu Ting-ping yesterday gives an update at a news conference in Taipei on the outbreak of a respiratory disease in China’s Wuhan.Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday issued a level one “watch” health notice for travel to Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province due to an outbreak of a pneumonia-like illness, saying that it has also sent a request to health professionals in Wuhan for information to better understand the disease.

People planning to travel to Wuhan and its surrounding areas should take precautions, including avoiding direct exposure to livestock, raw meat markets and infected patients, the agency said, adding that they should also frequently wash their hands with soap, cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and wear a surgical mask when entering crowded areas.

As of yesterday, 59 people in Wuhan were confirmed to have contracted the unidentified viral pneumonia, which was first reported on Tuesday last week, with the cases mainly linked to a local market where seafood, live animals and raw meat are sold.

As the Lunar New Year is approaching and many Taiwanese in China are expected to return to Taiwan for the holiday, the Executive Yuan has asked the agency to increase preventive measures and send an investigative group to China, CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said on Monday evening.

The agency has sent a letter to the Chinese National Health Commission requesting that the CDC be allowed to send a group of healthcare professionals to Wuhan to exchange information on the situation under the Cross-strait Cooperation Agreement on Medicine and Public Health Affairs (峽兩岸醫藥衛生合作協議), he said.

As the cause of the disease has not been identified, the CDC hopes to observe the clinical symptoms of the patients, treatment methods and the environment in the market, Chou said, adding that the CDC would require the approval of the commission to do its work.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) yesterday said that the commission has replied that it received the letter and would process the case according to standard procedure.

Separately yesterday, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Liu Ting-ping (劉定萍) said that 113,987 hospital visits for flu-like illnesses were reported around Taiwan last week, a 2.5 percent increase from the previous week.

As 13.6 percent of the cases were emergency room visits, the flu situation can be considered to be entering the peak season, she said, adding that the dominant circulating strain is influenza A virus subtype H1N1, which accounted for 76 percent of all cases.

Of the 79 serious flu complication cases reported last week, 71 were caused by H1N1, she said.

Two flu-related deaths were confirmed last week: a 67-year-old woman with cardiovascular disease and a 47-year-old woman with cancer, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said, adding that the 47-year-old, who died of septic shock five days after the onset of symptoms, was the youngest flu-related death this flu season.

Two imported cases of measles were reported last week, including a nine-month-old baby who visited Vietnam with her family from September to last month, Liu said.

The other case is a woman in her 20s who contracted the disease during a trip to Italy last month and was infected by a man in her tour group who contracted measles in the Philippines, she added.

During their periods of communicability, the baby took China Airlines (中華航空) Flight CI784 from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to Taipei on Wednesday last week, while the woman visited a branch of clothing store Uniqlo in New Taipei City’s St Ignatius Plaza (徐匯廣場) shopping mall and Jing Pin Beihai Restaurant (晶品北海餐廳) on Jixian Road in the New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) on Dec. 28, the CDC said, adding that people who were in those locations and have experienced symptoms of the disease should report to their local health department.


people: 呂國華 韓國瑜

content_text:
2020 Elections: Taiwan must vote ‘corrupt’ DPP out to gain respect, Han says

Staff at the campaign office of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday protesting the passing of the Anti-infiltration Act on Dec. 31.Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday urged people to vote against the “corrupt” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections so that Taiwan could gain the respect of other democracies.

“When in power, the DPP always tries to pocket as much as it can, and when elections are near it just bribes media outlets to attack its opponents,” Han told a rally in Keelung.

For the first time in Taiwan’s history, 90 percent of media outlets are only criticizing the opposition parties, instead of keeping the ruling party in check, he said.

“We all know this is an unfair presidential race, as our opponent not only has greater resources, but controls the armed forces as well as cyberarmies,” he said.

Han said that the distribution of resources is “extremely one-sided” between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, and compared running against the DPP to fighting a boxing match against an opponent “armed with an Uzi, a flamethrower, and assisted with satellites and missiles, while having only a nail clipper as a weapon.”

“We do not care how many resources you have — we will just fight you with our eyes closed, because we believe in the people,” he said.

The DPP thinks it can win the elections by having 90 percent of the media outlets attack the KMT’s “dark-skinned, bold, old and ugly presidential candidate,” not realizing it has lost public support, he said.

To put an end to the DPP’s corrupt rule, Taiwanese must vote it out of power, he said.

Doing so would show “all free and democratic countries around the world that Taiwanese can think clearly” and “make them gain respect for us,” he said.

Later yesterday, at a rally in Yilan County with KMT legislative candidate Lu Guo-hwa (呂國華), Han said that, if elected president, he would adopt a series of outward-looking policies that “open up Taiwan to the world.”

As president, he would promote scholarships to fund university students who want to study abroad for a year and encourage foreign universities to establish branches in Taiwan, Han said.

He would also provide scholarships for government employees, including military personnel, public-school teachers and public servants, to study abroad, he said.

Moreover, he said he would launch a Chinese-English bilingual program for all first-grade elementary students and the largest-scale talent fostering program in the nation’s history.


title: Standard Chartered bullish on Asian equities

content_text:
Standard Chartered PLC is bullish about Asian equity markets this year, especially China and South Korea, as those trade-oriented economies would benefit from an easing of the US-China trade dispute and the improving global economy, Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (渣打台灣銀行) head of investment strategy Allen Liu (劉家豪) said yesterday.

The investment bank said it preferred the Asian region over the Middle East and Latin America among emerging equity markets.

“China, South Korea and India are more attractive than other regions in Asia by valuation. Those markets are to benefit from subsiding trade tensions between US and China, given their roles in the whole supply chain,” Liu told a media briefing in Taipei.

Increasing trade activities around the globe will help drive China and South Korea equity markets, he said.

As Taiwan is part of the Asian market, “the outlook is positive,” he added.

Taiwan’s semiconductor companies will also be a beneficiary of the easing US-China trade dispute and grow along with their US technology clients, Liu said.

US corporations are expected to see net profits grow at an annual rate of 9 percent on average this year, recovering from last year’s flat performance, the bank said.

The strong growth would help boost US stock prices, offsetting concern over expensive valuation, it said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which last year counted Apple Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major clients, set an example as it saw its stock price soar 50.8 percent to NT$331 for the whole of last year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

Investors will continue seeking to diversify investment portfolios to reduce risks as the global trade environment and the electronics supply chain have changed due to the prolonged US-China trade row, Standard Chartered said.

Given the backdrop of stabilizing growth and supportive policymakers, equities — led by the US and Europe — are expected to outperform bonds, Standard Chartered’s newly released Wealth Management Advisory said.

Emerging market bonds should outperform developed market bonds, the report said.

“As major central banks have already eased significantly, we believe they are likely to either leave policy as is or possibly ease a little further,” Standard Chartered Private Bank chief investment strategist Steve Brice said in the report.

“The focus is likely to shift to fiscal policy where government spending in both major emerging and developed markets could turn increasingly supportive of growth. This will help equities outperform bonds,” Brice said.

Turning to the foreign exchange market, the US dollar is peaking after trending higher since early 2018 and was likely to begin a broad-based downtrend, the report said.

The euro and British pound are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries on the back of fading US economic exceptionalism, narrowing economic growth and interest rate differentials as well as political uncertainty shifting from Europe to the US presidential election, it said.

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content_text:
Alcohol intolerance raises risk of cancer, dementia

WARNING:People might feel pressured to drink alcohol during Lunar New Year get-togethers, the HPA said, urging people to avoid excessive alcohol consumption
Bottles of liquor are pictured on the shelf of a convenience store in Changhua County on June 11 last year.Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health.
Nearly half of the population in Taiwan lacks the mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene, which is linked to increased risks of cancer and dementia when combined with frequent or excessive alcohol intake, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday, urging Taiwanese to drink less alcohol.

Many feel pressured to drink alcoholic beverages at company year-end parties or Lunar New Year get-togethers, the agency said, adding that people should be aware that excessive drinking is not only linked to increased risks of gastric ulcers, cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer, but also to dementia.

A study published last year in the US suggests that alcohol consumption in people with an ALDH2 deficiency not only increases the risk of alcohol-related cancers, but can also contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, it said.

A 23-year follow-up study suggests that people who drink more than seven cans of beer per week have an increased risk of dementia, with the risk increasing to about 2.2 times if they drink up to 10 cans per week, HPA Tobacco Control Division head Lo Su-ying (羅素英) said.

All people, but especially those with an ALDH2 deficiency, should avoid excessive drinking, HPA Director-General Wang Ying-wei (王英偉) said.

“Nearly half of Taiwanese have an ALDH2 deficiency, which can be characterized by a flushed face, rapid heartbeat, headache, dizziness, vomiting and hangover after alcohol consumption, and is also known as ‘alcohol intolerance,’” Wang said.

A higher percentage of the populations in East Asian nations tend to carry the genetic mutation than Caucasians, he added.

Increasing the blood-alcohol concentration to above 0.15 percent — equivalent to an adult who weighs about 70kg drinking seven 500ml cans of beer with 5 percent alcohol content — over a short period can lead to temporary memory loss, also known as a “blackout,” the agency said.

People experiencing a blackout could continue to drink and interact with others, or engage in potentially dangerous behaviors, but they do not remember them when they begin to sober up, it added.

The HPA recommends that people — regardless of whether they have an ALDH2 deficiency — avoid excessive drinking to prevent alcohol-related diseases, Wang said.

If people feel they must drink on certain occasions, HPA dietary guidelines suggest that men drink no more than one can of beer per day and women no more than half a can of beer per day, while pregnant women should not drink alcohol at all, Wang said.


taiwan-subdivisions: 中正 嘉義縣 中埔

references: 網友 臉書社團 Facebook

content_text:
Community allotment for senior citizens a runaway success

共餐牽線 老人種菜中正大學熱銷

National Chung Cheng University student Huang Yu-chen, right, assists an elderly volunteer at an allotment in Wantan Village, Chiayi County in an undated photograph.
中正大學學生黃語晨（右）在灣潭社區的菜園協助長輩，拍照日期不詳。Photo: Wang Shan-yen, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者王善嬿
One year ago, Huang Yu-chen, a student at National Chung Cheng University’s Department of Adult and Continuing Education, together with teacher Chen Yu-ching, went to Wantan Village in Chiayi County’s Jhongpu Township to assist the village in establishing a community canteen for the elderly. On discovering that local volunteers had donated land for elderly members of the community to grow vegetables, Huang helped them to set up an allotment. Huang says they participated so enthusiastically in the project that this yielded a surplus of vegetables, with far too many for villagers to use by themselves. She solved the problem by establishing a Facebook group called Wantan Sungho Grocers, which lists the types of vegetables for sale and the quantity available each time. Word of mouth quickly spread interest in the Facebook group among students and teaching staff at the university, and the group now has over 300 members.

For nearly 10 months now, every weekend Huang rides her scooter, laden with vegetables, the 27km distance from Wantan Village to National Chung Cheng University. Huang sells bunches of leafy greens for just NT$10, barely making a profit. Brushing off any idea of hardship, Huang says she was initially concerned that nobody would want to buy the produce, but now the vegetables usually sell out within 10 minutes after she updates the Facebook group. Huang adds that fellow students even ask about the location of the village and the provenance of the vegetables.

The enthusiastic response from students has greatly encouraged the village’s green fingered senior citizens, some of whom have taught themselves how to use social media in order to interact with their gourmandizing clientele. Income generated from the sale of their vegetables is used to buy plant seeds and organic fertilizer. Huang says the allotment’s elderly volunteers hope that, by growing and selling their healthy vegetables, they can look after the university’s students as if they were their own grandchildren.

(Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times)

一年多前，中正大學成人及繼續教育研究所學生黃語晨跟隨陳毓璟老師到嘉義縣中埔鄉灣潭村輔導社區成立老人共餐據點，因有社區志工捐地讓長輩種菜，黃語晨也協助開闢菜園；長輩參與踴躍，所種的蔬菜供應共餐仍有剩餘，她遂設立「灣潭松鶴菜店仔」臉書社團網頁，公告每次販售的蔬菜種類及數量，獲中正大學師生熱烈回響，社團已有三百多人加入。

近十個月來，黃語晨幾乎每週從灣潭村騎機車約廿七公里到中正大學販售，每把青菜只賣十元，幾乎無利潤可言，她甘之如飴說，原本擔心沒人買，結果每次上網公告不到十分鐘就賣光，同學還會問她「長輩是住哪個社區？」、「蔬菜來自哪裡？」

由於同學反應熱烈，也讓社區長輩對種菜更有信心和興趣，還學會上網與網友互動，把賣菜所得拿來買更好的種子與有機肥料，希望如同對待孫子般照顧中正學生。

(自由時報記者王善嬿)


title: US judge mulls fate of researcher who denies China work

content_text:
A federal judge on Monday said that she would delay ruling on a motion to dismiss an indictment against a University of Kansas associate professor of engineering accused of secretly working for a Chinese university while performing federally funded research at Kansas.

Government attorneys said during the hearing that they plan to file a superseding indictment on Wednesday next week in the case of Feng “Franklin” Tao (陶豐), who they allege failed to report on a conflict-of-interest form that he was working with Fuzhou University in China while also doing research in Kansas.

The new indictment could make some issues raised in the dismissal motion moot, Robinson said.

Tao’s attorneys said that he did not accept an offer for a teaching position in China and he was not obligated to disclose it to Kansas.

In their motion, they accused a visiting graduate student at Kansas of fabricating the allegations after unsuccessfully trying to extort their client because she was angry at Tao after he refused to give her more credit for certain research manuscripts.

Tao’s attorneys said that the woman demanded that he pay her US$300,000 or she would falsely accuse him of economic espionage.

Their motion included e-mails that they say the graduate student sent to their client and the FBI.

The defense contends the graduate student also used aliases to make false complaints to the university and the FBI.

Assistant US Attorney Anthony Mattivi accused Tao’s attorneys of filing the motion, which contained the graduate student’s name, to garner publicity.

Mattivi said that the woman’s name was used in some national media stories.

The Associated Press has not named her because she is not charged with a crime.

“The only inference you can draw is this was an attempt by the defense to get their argument out to the public, even though [the alleged extortion] is not relevant to the motion to dismiss,” Mattivi said.

Tao’s attorneys offered to file another motion with the name redacted, but Mattivi said the damage had already been done.

One of Tao’s attorneys, Peter Zeiderberg, acknowledged that the woman should not have been named in the motion, saying it was “an unforced error” on his part.

“There was no ulterior agenda in doing that,” he said. “If I had thought of it at the time, that is something I normally would not have done, but this is the process we are in now.”

Tao’s attorneys told the court that she hacked into his e-mail account to obtain a copy of an unsigned job offer from China that she provided to the FBI, sparking an investigation.

Tao has asked the court to dismiss the federal indictment charging him with one count of wire fraud and three counts of program fraud.

The government’s response to the motion to dismiss is unclear, because the judge has sealed not only the initial defense motion but also all subsequent court filings over the issue.

Monday’s hearing did not shed light on the government’s underlying case against Tao.

The visiting academic, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment about Tao’s allegations.

It is unclear whether she is still in the US.

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content_text:
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs has failed to substantially eradicate the menace and ensnare major drug lords and should be reformed to prevent further bloodshed, the country’s vice president said on Monday.

Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo, who leads the opposition, also called for a stop to the dreaded police practice of home inspections that have led only to the killings of petty drug suspects.

It was the latest criticism by the vice president of Duterte’s notorious crackdown and is likely to deepen the political divide between the two leaders.

Presidents and vice presidents are elected separately in the Philippines, resulting in candidates from rival parties like Duterte and Robredo ending up in the country’s top leadership and often colliding on policies.

Only about 1 percent of the estimated supply of methamphetamine, a powerful banned stimulant locally known as shabu, has been seized in the past three years since the crackdown was launched by Duterte when he took office in mid-2016, Robredo said.

“Very clearly, based on official data, despite the killings of Filipinos and all the money spent, the amount of shabu and drug money we’ve seized has not gone beyond 1 percent of those in circulation,” Robredo told a news conference.

“If we really want to end the scourge of illegal drugs, we need to run after the big suppliers and not just the small-time pushers,” she said, adding that the campaign would not succeed unless it is reformed to be more strategic, better organized and closely supervised in all aspects by the president.

Her remarks were largely based on information gathered during a brief stint in a government anti-drugs committee, which Duterte last year asked her to help lead after being piqued by her constant criticisms of his bloody crackdown.

Robredo surprisingly accepted the offer, but Duterte fired her after 18 days after she started seeking confidential information about the campaign.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo dismissed Robredo’s statements, saying that Duterte’s campaign has succeeded in closing many drug laboratories and forcing the surrender of a large number of drug suspects.

Big-time drug lords have also been neutralized, Panelo said, although he failed to immediately provide a list of those key drug personalities.

“If you noticed, when she was threatening to release this report, she implied that there were some irregularities discovered, a bomb that would explode on your face. It’s a dud,” Panelo told reporters.

Robredo, a 54-year-old former human rights lawyer and political newcomer, has openly criticized the campaign against illegal drugs launched by Duterte, a long-time city mayor and state prosecutor known for his extra tough approach against criminality and brash speaking style.

Robredo has said that she accepted Duterte’s offer to help oversee the crackdown, despite warnings by her advisers and allies, so she that might be able to save lives under the campaign.

One of her first moves was to request confidential documents from law enforcers, including a list of key drug suspects targeted under Duterte’s campaign.

Duterte warned Robredo about sharing confidential information about the campaign with his foreign critics, including human rights advocates.

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title: Vice president says Philippine anti-drug campaign a failure


content_text:
A: I was astounded by him: He swam in the pool for half an hour and was even kicking his feet, without guidance.

B: Think about it, just three months ago he was swimming inside his mother’s womb.

A: That’s true.

B: He must have been really hungry afterward and then slept like a log.

A: 我被我姪子嚇了一大跳，他就在池裡游了半小時，而且竟然還會踢水，沒有人教過他啊。

B: 你想想哦，他三個月前還在媽媽肚子裡的時候就是在游泳啊。

A: 這倒是真的。

B: 他游完以後一定會餓，吃飽後就睡著了。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


content_text:
Actress Rose McGowan, right, speaks at a news conference as actor Rosanna Arquette, center left, listens outside a Manhattan courthouse in New York on Monday after the arrival of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.Photo: AP
Potential jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s New York sexual assault trial were expected to fill a courtroom yesterday as the former movie titan’s legal problems deepen with new charges in Los Angeles.

In New York, jury selection was set to start yesterday, but could take weeks, as prosecutors, Weinstein’s lawyers and the judge find people to serve on a lengthy trial in a high-profile case that has fueled societal pressure for accountability for sexual misconduct.

The trial involves charges that Weinstein raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performed a sex act on another woman in the city in 2006.

Weinstein, 67, has said any sexual activity was consensual.

“In this great country, you are innocent until proven guilty,” his lawyer Donna Rotunno said on Monday.

Across the street from the courthouse, women who say they were sexually harassed or assaulted by Weinstein branded him a villain undeserving of anyone’s pity.

“This trial is a cultural reckoning regardless of its legal outcome,” said Sarah Ann Masse, a performer and writer who has said that Weinstein once sexually harassed her in his underwear during a job interview.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.

Once one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers, Weinstein has now been accused of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct by dozens of women, from famous actresses to assistants at his former company.

The allegations began surfacing publicly in October 2017 and sparked the #MeToo movement, as well as investigations in multiple places.

Los Angeles prosecutors on Monday charged Weinstein with sexually assaulting two women there on successive nights during Oscar week in 2013.

Lawyers for Weinstein had no immediate comment on the new charges, although he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey said that the timing of the charges was unrelated to the New York trial.

The case took more than two years to build, because the women were reluctant to provide all the information necessary, and the filing happened on the first business day when all the necessary people could gather, she said.

However, there is some connection between the cases. One of the Los Angeles accusers is expected to testify in the New York case to help prosecutors establish what they say was Weinstein’s pattern of forcing himself on women trying to break into Hollywood.

Weinstein is expected to appear in court in California after his New York trial, Lacey said.

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title: Weinstein jury selection starts in New York


title: Pentagon rejects Trump’s Iran threat

content_text:
Pentagon rejects Trump’s Iran threat

INTERNATIONAL LAW:The Hague Convention says ‘all possible steps’ must be taken to protect cultural property, while Mark Esper said that the US would not break any laws
The Pentagon on Monday distanced itself from US President Donald Trump’s assertions that he would bomb Iranian cultural sites despite international prohibitions on such attacks.

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that the US would “follow the laws of armed conflict.” When asked if that ruled out targeting cultural sites, Esper said: “That’s the laws of armed conflict.”

The split between the president and his Pentagon chief came amid heightened tensions with Tehran following a US drone strike that killed major general Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Trump has twice warned that he would hit Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates against the US.

Esper’s public comments reflected the private concerns of other defense and military officials, who cited legal prohibitions on attacks on civilian, cultural and religious sites, except under certain, threatening circumstances.

Trump first raised the prospect of targeting cultural sites in a tweet on Saturday and reiterated that view to reporters the next day.

“We have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD,” he tweeted.

His message caught administration officials off-guard and prompted an immediate outcry from legal scholars, national security experts and Democratic lawmakers, but the president stood by his threat the following day.

“They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people, and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way,” he told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.

However, by international law, it does.

Specifically, the 1954 Hague Convention says that nations must “take all possible steps” to protect cultural property and shall refrain “from any act of hostility, directed against such property.”

It also says that nations must not use cultural sites for any threatening purposes that would make such locations a military target.

The Pentagon has long had a list of potential targets inside Iran, as well as those associated with Iran throughout the Middle East. Those targets and war plans are routinely updated, including during the recent uptick in hostilities.

Officials would not discuss the list, but it is certain to include an array of Iranian military sites and capabilities, including missile, air defense and command and control locations.

Any targets would go through a lengthy vetting process within the military and the Pentagon to determine that they are legal, appropriate and proportionate to any Iranian action. Only after that process is complete would a list of potential sites go before the president for approval.

Outside of the Pentagon, Trump’s threats were met with condemnation.

“It shows that he is somewhat deranged about this,” US Senator Tim Kaine said. “The pledge to attack cultural sites, likely, is a violation of international law.”

Kaine said that all Trump is doing “is escalating tensions and he seems to believe: ‘I can strike you, but you can’t strike me.’ That’s not the way the world works.”

Trump needs to confer with the US Congress, he added.


content_text:
Last decade was India’s hottest on record, with the Indian Meteorological Department calling the effects of global warming “unmistakable” and saying that extreme weather killed more than 1,500 people last year.

India, home to 1.3 billion people, is at the forefront of climate change, suffering devastating floods, dire water shortages and baking temperatures.

The southern city of Chennai last year declared “day zero” as taps ran dry.

Temperatures between 2010 and last year were 0.36°C above the long-term average, the hottest decade since records began in 1901, the department said on Monday.

Extreme weather also claimed more than 1,500 lives last year, the seventh-hottest, it said.

They included 850 people killed by heavy rain and flooding, and another 350 in summer temperatures of up to 51°C, department data showed.

Lighting and storms claimed another 380 lives, the data showed.

India’s five warmest years on record were all in the past decade, with 2016 the hottest.

Eleven of the 15 warmest years were also during the past 15 years, the department said.

The average temperature for last year would have been higher were it not for record cold in northern India last month, it said.

Last year also saw eight cyclones form over the north Indian Ocean — just short of a record 10 last reached in 1976, including five over the Arabian Sea — but equaling the previous high of 1902, the department said.

“The impact of global warming on India is unmistakable,” department Director-General Mrityunjay Mohapatra told the Times of India. “The past year had extreme weather during all seasons.”

The UN last month said that last decade was set to be the planet’s hottest since records began.

Each of the past four decades has been hotter than the preceding one.

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title: India sees hottest decade on record


content_text:
Spain leader faces tight vote on power

‘FRANKENSTEIN GOVERNMENT’:The head of the Popular Party said Pedro Sanchez was allying himself with ‘communists’ and ‘separatists’ looking to ‘put an end to Spain’
The Spanish Congress of Deputies was yesterday to vote on whether to confirm Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister at the helm of the country’s first-ever coalition government.

Sanchez, who has stayed on as a caretaker prime minister since inconclusive elections last year, is seeking to be reappointed for another term. He wants to form a minority coalition government with hard-left party Podemos.

On Sunday, Sanchez lost a first confidence vote, having failed to win backing from an absolute majority in the 350-seat lower chamber.

He yesterday faced a second vote, in which he needs just a simple majority to remain prime minister.

While the political math works in his favor after the Socialists struck a deal last week with the 13 lawmakers from Catalan separatist party Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to abstain, the numbers still look tight.

At the latest count Sanchez, 47, could win by a margin of just two votes after the sole lawmaker from the regional Coalicion Canaria formation broke party ranks over the weekend to say that she would vote against him instead of abstaining.

Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy, has been in political gridlock without a proper government for most of the past year after two inconclusive elections in April and November.

Sanchez’s Socialists won a repeat Nov. 10 poll, but were weakened, taking 120 seats — three fewer than in April — in an election that saw upstart far-right party Vox surge to third place.

Sanchez quickly struck a deal with Podemos to form what would be the first post-dictatorship coalition government in Spain, despite having previously said that a coalition with the far-left party would keep him up at night.

The two parties have pledged to increase the minimum wage; raise taxes on high earners and large businesses; and repeal elements of Spain’s controversial 2012 labor market reforms that made it easier to fire workers — measures that have alarmed business leaders who warn that they would hurt job creation.

With the two formations’ combined total of 155 seats still falling short of a majority, Sanchez has also secured the support or abstention of several smaller regional parties, including the ERC, which could let him squeak by in yesterday’s second confidence vote.

As part of the deal with the ERC, Sanchez has agreed that the national government should hold talks with Catalonia’s separatist regional government to resolve the “political conflict” over the future of the wealthy northeastern region.

The political situation in Catalonia remains in flux following a 2017 independence referendum that Madrid declared unconstitutional.

“This progressive coalition is the best antidote against this coalition of the apocalypse,” Sanchez said on Sunday, referring to Spain’s conservative parties — the Popular Party, Ciudadanos and Vox — who have accused him of putting national unity at risk with his deal with Catalan separatists.

Popular Party leader Pablo Casado accused Sanchez of forming a “Frankenstein government” made up of “communists” and “separatists” who “want to put an end to Spain,” and warned that the government the Socialist leader is proposing would be unable to govern and not last the full four years.

Sanchez rose to power in June 2018 after ousting his Popular Party predecessor, former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, in a no-confidence vote, but he was forced to call elections in April last year after Catalan separatists including the ERC refused to back his draft budget.

title: Spain leader faces tight vote on power


content_text:
Moon renews invitation for Kim visit

‘CEASELESS DIALOGUE’:The two Koreas should work to create the conditions for a visit by Kim Jong-un as soon as possible, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said
South Korean President Moon Jae-in yesterday said that he hopes to see North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fulfill a promise to visit the South this year and called for the Koreas to end a prolonged freeze in bilateral relations.

In his New Year’s speech, Moon also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to resume inter-Korean economic activities that have been held back by US-led sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear weapons and missiles program.

Any resumption in activities would depend on progress in the larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea suspended virtually all cooperation with the South during a deadlock in those larger talks, while also pressuring Seoul to break away from Washington and restart the joint economic projects, which would breathe life into North Korea’s broken economy.

Moon called on Pyongyang to respond to Seoul’s efforts to resume bilateral dialogue, saying an improvement in inter-Korean relations would also help induce progress in the nuclear negotiations.

He urged North Korea to refrain from military demonstrations and threats that would potentially hurt the momentum in nuclear negotiations with Washington.

“The South and North should work together so to create the conditions for Chairman Kim Jong-un’s visit [to South Korea] as soon as possible,” Moon said during a nationally televised speech.

“I have a willingness to meet again and again, and hold ceaseless dialogue. We will continue to invest efforts for the resumption of the Kaesong industrial park and tours to Diamond Mountain,” he said.

South Korean tours to the North’s Diamond Mountain resort were a major symbol of rapprochement between the rivals before they were suspended in 2008 after a North Korean guard fatally shot a South Korean tourist.

Seoul’s previous conservative government shut down a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong in 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test.

Moon’s comments came days after Kim appeared to sideline inter-Korean issues during a key ruling party conference, where he declared to strengthen his nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” US sanctions and pressure.

The North Korean state media’s account of the meeting did not include any mention of South Korea.

The official Korean Central News Agency yesterday said that Kim visited a fertilizer factory recently and reiterated his call for his people to stay resilient in a struggle for economic “self-reliance” in face of sanctions, saying that the “fiercer the adverse wind raised by the hostile forces gets, the fiercer our red flag will flutter in high spirits.”

North Korea last year dialed up military tensions, conducting 13 rounds of ballistic tests, which potentially expanded its ability to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including US military bases there.

It in October demanded that South Korea clear out its hotels and other properties at the mountain resort, expressing frustration that Seoul would not defy international sanctions and resume South Korean tours at the site.

The erosion in inter-Korean relations has been a major setback to Moon, a son of North Korean war refugees who met Kim three times in 2018, while expressing ambitions to restart inter-Korean economic engagement.

In their third summit in Pyongyang in September 2018, Kim and Moon had vowed to restart South Korean tours to the resort and normalize operations at the factory park when possible, voicing optimism that sanctions could end to allow such projects.

title: Moon renews invitation for Kim visit


content_text:
Mini’s Spanish driver Carlos Sainz and codriver Lucas Cruz compete in the second stage of the Dakar Rally between Al Wajh and Neom, Saudi Arabia, on Monday.Photo: AFP
South African driver Giniel de Villiers on Monday won the second stage of the Dakar Rally, while former Formula One (F1) world champion Fernando Alonso was “glad to be able to continue” after dropping more than two hours when losing a wheel.

Alonso suffered his first major problem in his maiden Dakar appearance as he ground to a halt when his near front wheel “completely ripped off.”

“He said sorry to us. I think he knew it was his fault,” Toyota Overdrive boss Jean-Marc Fortin said. “He had the necessary [equipment] to repair it, but he first had to find the wheel, because it had careered off into the distance. When they found it, it wasn’t round, but oval.”

In the run-up to Sunday’s start, the 38-year-old Spaniard had downplayed his prospects of creating history by becoming the first F1 world champion to win, but his chances of reaching the podium look remote after just two days of the 7,500km desert odyssey in Saudi Arabia.

When he made it to the finish, Alonso cut a relaxed figure, despite the wheel drama, which he attributed to being blinded by dust thrown up by vehicles ahead of him.

“When you come on the Dakar, you come for all the hazards it entails — today was one of them. I’m glad to be here and to be able to continue the rally,” the 2005 and 2006 F1 champion said.

His Toyota teammate, De Villiers, who lost 23 minutes when he finished 14th in Sunday’s opening stage, came back strong over the 401km route, of which 367km were a special between Al Wajh and Neom.

Many drivers had navigational problems and De Villiers took advantage of a mistake by long-time stage leader Yazeed al-Rajhi to guide his Toyota home in 3 hours, 37 minutes, 20 seconds.

The 47-year-old crossed the line 3:57 ahead of Orlando Terranova, who heads the overall standings in his Mini. The Argentinian, who was sixth in the opening stage, is almost five minutes ahead of fellow Mini driver Carlos Sainz.

Defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah came in fifth on stage two and is six minutes off the lead, while 13-time champion Stephane Peterhansel trails by 13 minutes after a problem with his car’s steering column.

Yesterday, the rally headed out on a 489km trip that started and ended in Neom.

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title: De Villiers takes Dakar’s second stage; Alonso ailing


title: US denies Iran’s Zarif visa to attend UN: US official

content_text:
The US has denied a visa to Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif that would have allowed him to attend a UN Security Council meeting in New York tomorrow, a US official said on Monday.

The comments by the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, came as tensions escalate between the two countries after the US killed Iran’s most prominent military commander, major general Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad on Friday last week.

Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the US is generally required to allow access to the UN for foreign diplomats, but Washington says it can deny visas for “security, terrorism and foreign policy” reasons.

The US Department of State declined immediate comment.

“We have seen the media reports, but we have not received any official communication from either the US or the UN regarding Foreign Minister Zarif’s visa,” Iran’s mission to the UN said.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric declined to comment.

Zarif wanted to attend a meeting of the council on the topic of upholding the UN Charter. The meeting and Zarif’s travel had been planned before the latest flare-up in tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The council meeting would have given Zarif a global spotlight to publicly criticize the US for killing Soleimani.

Iranian Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi has described the killing of Soleimani as “an obvious example of state terrorism and, as a criminal act, constitutes a gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law, including, in particular ... the Charter of the United Nations.”

Zarif last traveled to New York in September for the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN — after the US sanctioned him for implementing “the reckless agenda of Iran’s supreme leader.”

The sanctions block any property or interests Zarif has in the US, but he said he had none.

Zarif also attended UN meetings in April and July. During his July visit, Washington imposed tight travel restrictions on Zarif and diplomats at Iran’s mission to the UN, confining them to a small section of New York City.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier on Monday.

US Department of State spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement the pair discussed events in the Middle East and that Pompeo “expressed his appreciation” for Guterres’ diplomatic efforts.

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